Is Andrew Lansley’s time finally running out?

A few months ago, I was invited to speak at the Health Service Journal conference, and hugely enjoyed meeting various reformers from within the NHS (and, of course, their enemies). One representative from the NHS Confederation pointed out that in most countries which were run by coalitions, the junior party was always given control of health — because nothing good can ever come from it. When things are going well, you hear nothing. When flu epidemics strike, then health is a horrible brief.

A good point, which David Cameron may be taking to heart. Patrick Hennessy reveals in tomorrow’s Sunday Telegraph that Cameron is mulling a pre-Olympics reshuffle which would replace the hapless Lansley with a Lib Dem. Hopefully Vince Cable: the damage he’s doing as an anti-business secretary is no longer affordable for a country that desperately needs to get growth going.

Whoever succeeds Lansley will have this comforting thought: it’s hard, almost impossible, to do any worse than he did.